Kids

World

BEST FRIENDS: THE POWER OF SISTERHOOD celebrates the uniquely powerful bond between women friends. The moving documentary features heartfelt reflections — from humorous to joyful to poignant — from women spanning the generations: childhood friends, college friends, neighbors and colleagues. Despite embarking on separate paths, these women have maintained friendships based on mutual respect and encouragement. Actress and author Jamie Lee Curtis also discusses the importance of her girlfriends in her life.

A landmark series based on the book by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide follows six actress-advocates including Diane Lane, America Ferrera, and Olivia Wilde as they travel to six countries and meet inspiring, courageous individuals who are confronting oppression and developing real, meaningful solutions through health care, education, and economic empowerment for women and girls. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide aims to amplify the central message of the book –- that women are not the problem, but the solution –– and to bolster the broad and growing movement for change.

The bushfires that tore through the Australian state of Victoria in February 2009 incinerated over a million acres of land, including key mountain ash forest ecosystems. Fires are a natural force of nature which spur regeneration, but the immediate aftermath of this giant firestorm was devastation. Kangaroos and koalas, wombats and wallabies, endangered possums and gliders, lizards, echidnas, birds of all kinds, and even fish that lived among these eucalypts were overcome by the flames. Millions died. But burned and traumatized survivors tenderly nursed back to health at wildlife hospitals showed a remarkable ability to bounce back, and the environment an extraordinary capacity for healing.

WINGS FOR MAGGIE RAY pays tribute to the remarkable life and legacy of Margaret "Maggie" Ringenberg (1921-2008), a U.S. Army Air Force WASP (Women's Air Service Pilot) and renowned long-distance aviation racer. Re-enactments, archival photos and film, and insightful interviews from those closest to her shed light on Maggie's fearlessness, confidence, competitive nature, drive and determination. The program covers the Indiana native's numerous aviation adventures during and after World War II, including ferrying personnel and supplies, test-flying new planes, and serving as the lead pilot in around-the-world and London-to-Sydney races.

Before World War II, war reporting was considered No Job For a Woman. But when the United States entered the war, American women reporters did not want to miss covering the biggest story of the century so they fought for and won access. But there was a catch: women reporters would be banned from the frontlines, prevented from covering front page stories about generals and battlefield maneuvres, and assigned "woman's angle" stories about nurses and female military personnel. Several women reporters refused to abide by these journalistic conventions and military restrictions and, instead, brought home a new kind of war story: one that was more intimate yet more revealing. They reached beyond the battlefield and deep into human lives to tell a new story of war.

A documentary profiling eight remarkable women who have made important contributions to the field of chemistry.

The Women in Chemistry project set out to present a group of eminent women chemists in all their dimensions principally to inspire young women to consider careers in the chemical and molecular sciences.

Women account for roughly 14 percent of the active-duty U.S. military and more than 24 percent of the National Guard, yet they often receive less than a hero's welcome upon their return to civilian life. Many face poverty, homelessness and joblessness; deal with the psychological and physiological effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from military sexual trauma and combat-related injuries; and often receive poor service from a Veterans Administration ill-equipped and, in some cases, unwilling to help them. The Emmy®-nominated documentary WAR ZONE/COMFORT ZONE uncovers the plight of these veterans through the intense and personal stories of four women veterans coping with life after their military service. Each seeks a sense of normalcy and peace without the benefit of a comprehensive support system. WAR ZONE/COMFORT ZONE weaves together intimate interviews with the story of two women — Shalini Madaras and Joy Kiss — struggling to establish transitional housing for homeless female veterans in Bridgeport, Connecticut, despite virulent community opposition.

The continuing saga of Cloud, the wild, white stallion, returns viewers to the Arrowhead Mountains of Montana. Cloud is now a confident band stallion in his prime. As he rules the mountains, gathering mares and expanding his reign, the story turns to his two sons. Bolder is his by birth - beautiful and golden, the success of his father and grandfather flowing in his veins. Flint, sired by another stallion, is the colt Cloud raised. Now, Bolder has gathered some mares of his own, while Flint has joined a group of bachelor stallions, young guns roaming the mountains. Who will rise to challenge the mighty Cloud? Will nature or nurture produce the next great stallion of the Arrowheads?

Makers: Women Who Make America tells the remarkable story of the most sweeping social revolution in American history, as women have asserted their rights to a full and fair share of political power, economic opportunity, and personal autonomy. It’s a revolution that has unfolded in public and private, in courts and Congress, in the boardroom and the bedroom, changing not only what the world expects from women, but what women expect from themselves.

Narrated by actress Danica McKellar (The Wonder Years), JULIA ROBINSON AND HILBERT'S TENTH PROBLEM presents the inspiring life story of the pioneering American mathematician Julia Robinson (1919-1985) and charts her major contribution to solving one of the 20th century's most vexing mathematical questions — Hilbert's Tenth. The documentary is pieced together by a wide array of archival footage, stills and recordings, recollections from other mathematicians — including the three others responsible for solving H10 — and warm reminiscences by her sister/biographer, Constance Reid.